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Crain's week in news, Nov. 23-29

Photo by Ray Rushing | Rock Ventures
Detroit-based Rock Ventures LLC named New York City-based Shop Architects PC to lead the design process for a mixed-use development at the former Hudson's site on Woodward Avenue. (See story.)

Creditors seek role in valuing DIA collection

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes

Detroit's creditors, including bond insurers, asked the judge overseeing the city's bankruptcy to give them a role in valuing its art collection, an asset that could be used to pay creditors owed $18 billion, Bloomberg reported.

Bond insurers Financial Guaranty Insurance Co. and Syncora Guarantee Inc. asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes to order Detroit to cooperate with a committee of creditors in determining how much the collection at the Detroit Institute of Arts is worth.

On the move

Gerold Bepler, M.D.

• Gerold Bepler, M.D., CEO of the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit, was removed as interim chairman of the department of oncology and associate dean for cancer programs at the Wayne State University School of Medicine. Karmanos signed an agreement last month to be acquired by Flint-based McLaren Health Care. Valerie Parisi, M.D., dean of the WSU medical school, is serving as acting chair. Bepler will remain a member of the medical school faculty in the department of oncology.

• Ronald Berry, CFO of Detroit-based Health Alliance Plan of Michigan, left after 15 years to become a vice president at Detroit-based Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. A HAP official said a new CFO will be named once a replacement is found for retired President/CEO Bill Alvin.

• Former automotive designer Sooshin Choiwas named provost and vice president for academic affairs, as well as professor of design, at Detroit-based College for Creative Studies, effective Jan. 1. Choi joins CCS from the University of Cincinnati, where he has been director of the School of Design and professor of industrial design.

Company news

• Detroit-based Rock Ventures LLC named New York City-based Shop Architects PC to lead the design process for a mixed-use development at the former Hudson's site on Woodward Avenue. Shop, which designed Google Inc.'s headquarters in Silicon Valley and the new Atlanta Falcons Stadium, will work with Detroit-based HamiltonAnderson Associates.

• A $20 million partnership will bring the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses initiative to Detroit to create jobs and boost economic growth. Billionaire investor Warren Buffett was part of the announcement, staged inside Ford Field. The overall $500 million program is active in urban areas, among them New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago.

• Dearborn-based clothing maker Carharttis donating jackets and bib overalls to the next round of prize packages for the state for the Department of Natural Resources' Pure Michigan Hunt, part of an effort to support hunting and wildlife management in Michigan.

• The Detroit-based General Motors Foundationcommitted $2.9 million in grants to 26 universities and associations across the country to strengthen their STEM and information technology curricula, as well as support career development and diversity initiatives. Among those receiving grants from Michigan are Kettering University, Lawrence Technological University, Michigan State University, Michigan Technological University and the University of Michigan.

• Chevrolet unveiled its all-new Colorado pickup at the Los Angeles Auto Show, and General Motors Co. said in a statement that the truck's advertising account would go toMcCann Worldgroup's Commonwealth, Detroit, not Publicis' Leo Burnett, Chicago, which handles the Silverado account, Advertising Age reported.

Other news

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette

• Troy officials expected to present an offer to reacquire the city's transit center site from Farmington Hills-based Grand/Sakwa Properties LLC for $550,000 after the Michigan Supreme Court turned away its appeal in the long-running land dispute.

• Walsh College in Troy received its second-largest charitable gift from an alumnus, a $200,000 donation from Walsh graduate Tim Moore, managing shareholder at Houston-based accounting firm Doeren Mayhew, and his wife, Sandra. The gift will establish an endowed scholarship fund for students with a 3.0 grade-point average or higher.

• Somerset Collection, which opened its CityLoft retail project downtown on Woodward Avenue in late November, and Bedrock Real Estate Serviceslaunched an online contest to choose the best from among 16 window displays in the 1400 and 1500 blocks of Woodward.

• Backers of the proposed $400 million Canadian effort to build a larger commercial train tunnel underneath the Detroit River said they will soon have all financing and approvals in place, and construction will begin in the second or third quarter of 2014.

• Police arrested two people in the Oct. 18 fatal shooting of Eastern Michigan University football player Demarius Reed. University officials said they are hiring four more full-time police officers to support off-campus patrols.

• A Massachusetts-based investigation of tainted steroids that infected hundreds of people with meningitis remains active, Carmen Ortiz, the U.S. attorney in Boston, said while in Detroit to announce a partnership with Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, who plans to share any evidence from a separate state probe. Ortiz said investigators are working diligently in Massachusetts, where New England Compounding Center made injectable steroids.

• About 40 percent of self-employed Americans are not saving regularly for retirement, compared with 12 percent of those who work for others, according to a survey by Omaha, Neb.-based TD Ameritrade Inc., Investment News reported.

• Men outspend women during almost every annual holiday, according to a study from Bristol, Conn.-based ESPN Research and Analytics, Advertising Age reported. While women often shop without buying and visit multiple stores, men expect to buy when they shop and prefer to buy many products at one store, according to the study's researchers.

• The appeal of company stock as an investment option in defined contribution plans could dim considerably if the Department of Labor succeeds in having the U.S. Supreme Courtrevisit the issue of fiduciary prudence in managing that option, Pensions & Investments reported.